The invention relates to contactless communication between a multi-application portable object, for example a contactless smart card, and an item of equipment, for example a card reader.
Usually, a portable object capable of communicating according to a contactless communication protocol with a reader is associated with a single application, for example a bank application or else a transport application, etc. In order to be identified by the reader, the processing means of the portable object transmit a serial number which is similar to an identifier of this object.
Multi-application contactless cards also exist. In other words, the card contains various application modules respectively dedicated to different applications, for example a bank application, a transport application, etc.
Currently, the existing solutions for recognizing and identifying all the possible applications stored in a single card use complex command interchanges, mainly proprietary commands or else requiring a specific development of the software (OS: Operating System) incorporated into the processing means of the card. What is needed is an improved approach to multi-application objects.